DAVID MURDOCK: The (roughly) 40-day holiday season

Sunday

Dec 30, 2012 at 12:01 AM

By David MurdockSpecial to The Times

The whole of the American holiday season — from Thanksgiving to New Year’s Day — seems very cleverly designed.We have, roughly speaking, about 40 days at the end of the year set aside for celebrating. Those 40 days break down naturally into three parts, and each of those parts has a purpose.First, of course, is the Thanksgiving season. The purpose of this part of the holidays is obvious — to give thanks for what we have received in the last year.Even though the Great Recession has inflicted quite a bit of economic pain, our nation has so much to be grateful for that it is right and fitting to set aside a national holiday for that purpose. Thanksgiving also brings our families together, which assumes a greater importance in the age of Facebook and fast-paced schedules. We’re so very busy these days that many families don’t get to eat meals together at home. Thanksgiving reminds us how very important that simple habit is, and I think it has more relevance today than ever.Once we’ve reflected on our blessings, we move right along into the Christmas season. Yes, yes. I know that the holidays infringe on each other a little, but that’s only in the stores. Just because the stores have started Black Friday sales on Thanksgiving night does not mean we have to patronize those stores until we’re good and ready. Christmas, the next part of our national holiday season, is where we celebrate joy. The whole Thanksgiving to Christmas progression has always struck me as a very sublime idea. After all, we can more fully appreciate joy if we are grateful for that joy. Thanksgiving prepares us for Christmas, I think, in very important ways.Right now, we’re in the last part of our holiday season — that strange time from Christmas to New Year’s Day. We don’t really seem to know what to do with ourselves. It’s the end of the year, but not quite the beginning of a new one yet. The stores try to “sell” this time of year by marking down all the things we didn't want to purchase just last week. But hey, mark it down enough and many people will buy it just because it’s a bargain.Other cultures have customs associated with the days from Christmas to New Year’s, even a little beyond.I’m writing on Boxing Day, for example, the name for the day after Christmas in England.“Christmas boxes” in the churches are opened on this day, and the proceeds delivered to those who needed it. The Twelve Days of Christmas, the ones in the song, run from December 25 to January 5. This time used to be one of feasting and great merriment, to use an old-fashioned phrase that somehow fits the occasion. It must have been a seriously wonderful holiday time, given the evidence of extravagant gifts the song relates.There are other observances, too.In Scotland, people go to visit each other just after midnight on Jan. 1, a tradition known as Hogmanay. At one time, small gifts called “handsels” were given on New Year’s Day.I don’t think we’ll see Hogmany displays or signs reading “Perfect for New Year’s Handsels” at Walmart anytime soon, though.We Americans tend to do things a little differently. New Year’s Eve has generally become a time of great merriment, to say the least. (I’m sorry. I just liked that phrase so much I had to use it again. I promise not to use it again … at least until my next column.) Some Americans keep an older tradition termed “Watch Night” on Dec. 31, which is a more religious observance of the new year. No one I know does laundry on New Year’s Day — you don’t want to “wash someone out” of your life — and peas and greens are freely consumed for their monetary “benefits” in the coming year.These various customs aside, one thing we usually all do is make those pesky resolutions for the coming year. After giving thanks and realizing joy, we make an effort to do better.I didn’t understand that part of the equation when I was younger, but I’m starting to better understand it as I age. In the past, I usually broke my resolutions within days of making them; now, I try to do better.Thanks to joy to doing better — that just seems like such a simple and powerful idea. It’s like it was designed that way or something. Well, I have to make a list of a few things I want to do better with next year. See y’all in 2013.

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